Some links for Sunday afternoon..
- The Dodgers have become an embarrassment to the sport of baseball, writes Troy Renck of The Denver Post.
- Brewers right fielder Corey Hart is set to return on Tuesday and the club will have to clear a roster spot, writes MLB.com's Adam McCalvy. Unfortunately for Milwaukee, both Erick Almonte and the recently-promoted Brandon Boggs are out of options.
- Although Chris Sampson was somewhat shocked on April 1st when he learned that the Rockies would be releasing him, he was optimisitic that opportunities would likely fall into his lap toward the end of April, writes Stephen Goff of Examiner.com. Sampson signed a minor-league deal with the Marlins yesterday.
- Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald sees Jarrod Saltalamacchia's coronation as the Red Sox's starting catcher as being indicative of the lack of catching depth in the majors.
- Cutter Dykstra isn't exactly expected to accomplish what his father did, writes Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The 21-year-old was recently shipped to the Nationals from the Brewers.
- The Yankees no longer have the largest payroll of any sports team on the planet as a pair of soccer teams have unseated them, according to Nick Harris of Sporting Intelligence.
So Cutter isn’t going to squander his money, get into criminal activity, and go to jail?
You forgot “use steroids.”
Saltalamacchia, is a product of Theo thinking he has all the answers. No way the Sox should have gone into the season with just Salt and Varitek. Especially when there were so many FA catchers out there. How nice would it have been for the Sox to sign R. Martin. But the front office red flagged him as damaged goods.
weird then that they made him a multimillion dollar offer
Theo usually does have all the answers though. A pair of trophies seems to indicate that at least.
A lineup like that can afford to have a few weak bats at the bottom. Although it might have been a good idea to sign an all-defense catcher to back up a 60 year old and a guy who struggled with throwing the ball back to the pitcher.
So many FA catchers? There weren’t as many choices out there as you’re trying to sell. There was VMart but the Sox questioned his ability to catch long term, everyone thinks he’ll be a 1B/DH very soon. There was Buck, I want the Sox to get him but as I recall he signed pretty quickly and for a price tag that a lot of people weren’t expecting. As for Martin, I recall the Sox offer being right up there with the yanks.
In the end Theo decided to stay in house. As already mentioned the Sox lineup has plenty of fire in it, so gambling that a kid who once had a lot of promise might at least be an average player isn’t that much of a risk.
If Martin lasts the entire season without the reoccurance of his previous injury or the appearance of a new reason to go on the DL, it would be fair to pronounce him injury free. Until then, the Red Sox decision to to back away from a big contract for the former Dodger catcher, has to be respected, for what it was…. an attempt to avoid further trouble, especially with the Boston Press Corps. Can you imagine the howling if Theo gave Martin a 3-yr, $20M deal, only to have him spend the year, or a good part of it, on the DL? Shaughnessy, Ryan, & Co. would be conducting street protests, for the TV cameras, in front of Theo’s house! The Yankees signed Martin because they were desperate, to the point of having no other choice but to take the risk.
Were the Yankees ahead of those soccer teams to begin with? Barca, Real Madrid, Man U, Chelsea… those teams spend hundreds of millions of dollars just to buy out a player’s contract, THEN offer the player hundreds of millions of dollars to sign him.
I’d have to research other sources, because I just can’t see a $200m team ever being ranked above the large amounts of money thrown around in soccer.
EDIT: Euros, not dollars for soccer teams… where one euro = about 1.3-1.5 dollars, on average. (That means euros are worth more, for those that flunked math)
No mentioning soccer, it’s a Holy day.
That upcoming book by Bill White is almost a must read. The last of the fair haired appointees or “do boys” in high office of the MLB. This could be one outstanding book, along the lines of Bouton’s Ball Four on a top scale. Am looking forward to this one and didn’t even know it was coming out before.
Hat’s off on this tip by Silverman in the Herald article here.
Brewers are currently carrying 13 pitchers. Brandon Kintzler, who has options, figures to be optioned to make room for Hart. It’s unlikely however, that Almonte who is 3 for 28 survives the return of Nyjer Morgan. Almonte is likely to clear waivers however. Not much market for 33 year old career minor leaguers batting .107.
Also on the bubble right now for Brewers is Sean Green, who’s shaky recent performances makes him expendable when Saito returns. Green too is out of options.
How are the Dodgers an embarassment? More like Frank McCourt is.
Right, the Dodgers are experiencing what many privately held companies experience when the owners go through marriage difficulties, or when there is an unclear line of inheritance, among siblings, when an owner’s death occurs. The players will not feel the reprocussions of the Dodger’s financial difficulties unless the team folds and ceases operations. They will get paid, as though nothing happened…
Thank you, I needed that. Happy Easter
You seem really upset about this pretty innocuous article. Do you want to talk about it?
As a Red Sox fan, I’m obligated to dislike the Yankees, however it is within the rules to spend $200 Mil on a team if you want so I don’t fault them for that. The thing I don’t like about the Yankees is how some of their fans seem to have a false feeling of entitlement, that can get on my nerves. Note how I did say SOME before anyone goes on to leave me nasty-grams, because I also know very smart and knowledgeable Yankee fans I get along well with.
i have no statistical evidence, but i’m pretty sure that the yankees don’t have a higher percentage of obnoxious fans than any other team, they just have a very high total number
much of the reason that particular brand (yankee) of obnoxious fan gets sooo much more negative attention is that other fans are frustrated. not frustrated with the fans so much really (think about it: do you get that annoyed by obnoxious orioles fans? no, you laugh) and not even very frustrated at the yankee ownership, really. but frustrated with the structure of the system in which they operate
right? i mean, you can’t really be mad at the yankees for simply existing in the largest baseball market in the world. not their fault. and you can’t really be mad that they make the most money as a consequence. how could they not? similarly, how could you be mad that they spend a lot of that money instead on the game we love instead of pocketing it? you’d really prefer that they just fatten their wallets instead? nah, i don’t buy that. people are just annoyed by the imbalance in the game in general – which simply isn’t the yankees’ fault
buuuut. a large total number of fans means a larger than usual number of obnoxious ones. and their obnoxiousness is pretty straightforward. so aaalll of that frustration from everyone else finds an easy outlet in yankee fans and yankee bashing
then the remaining sensible yankee fans write 100 comments pointing out the hypocrisy and lack of sense in criticizing the yankees instead of just the obnoxious fans. and round and round we go
I”m a Yankee fan and I agree
You know what I respect all the high payroll teams because it means they’re trying their best to put a championship caliber product on the field for their fanbase. That goes for the Phillies, Red Sox, etc. who as a Yankee fan I don’t like those teams but its all fun and the tough competition makes it exciting. Hopefully I’ll see ya guys in October.
tl;dr? enjoy this instead
Well I went to dinner with a group of friends the other day, some how we managed to represent most of the AL East. Anyway the only thing we could agree on was that we all thought Phillies fans were the most obnoxious.
The fact is every fanbase has their percentage of jerks and the larger the fanbase the more jerks.
To summarize: hate the game not the playa?
Ummm…last time I looked, the Yankees have to share their market with the Mets. The reason the Yankees have the highest income (and highest payroll) in MLB has more to do with the fact that they draw fans from all across the country. You might not remember this (or be too young too remember, idk) but 20 years ago the Yankees had neither the highest income nor the highest payroll in baseball. But they still had those cadres of fans who were weaned on Mickey Mantle; whose fathers were weaned on Joe Dimaggio and grandfathers on Babe Ruth. Once the team started winning again, Yankee Stadium once again filled.
Winning cures all ills. Give the Steinbrenners credit. As far back as 1973, George understood the best way to make money with a baseball team is to win first and let the dollars flow after. When I hear this mularkey that the Yankees have a high payroll or huge market, I wonder why the Royals (truly formidable foe when I was I younger) or the Indians (more recent vintage) don’t invest in their teams. GMS lost money from 1973 – 1977; but that didn’t stop him from trading or signing the best players available. When I hear about the Pirates (anyone else remember the Lumber Company?) signing guys who shouldn’t even be in the Atlantic League, I wonder why their fans aren’t demanding a change in ownership. I hate the Red Sox, but give credit where credit is due: John Henry & Co. spent their way back into contention. The Phillies turned decades of futility into a championship caliber team by buying a pitching staff full of all-stars.
Indeed.
I wasn’t at that dinner, but agree with your outcome.
It makes sense, but then people need to then stop saying: I hate the yankees because of their obnoxious fans since it just follows logic that it would happen, but then its not the norm and then proves a rash generalization
I assume the Rays fan was lacking, as it doesn’t exist.
I’m a Phillies fan, but I hope I’m not one of the obnoxious ones.
I think what you are seeing from a lot of the current Phillies supporters is a fan base so used to failure and disappointment that the recent success of the team has been like drinking from an oasis after wandering in the desert for too long. They are overly exuberant, and that manifests itself as obnoxious behavior. Think of them as the nouveau riche who don’t realize how classless it is to flaunt their wealth.
I think Steinbrenner is a jerk, but I have to give the man credit for his business skills. Less so for his understanding of baseball but Gene Michaels deserves that credit. But you have to admit that teams like the yanks, the Red Sox, Phillies, and even teams like the White Sox and Cubbies have things a little easier in terms of selling the product. Partly they have fans who’s families have been around for a few generations and partly the cites they play in.
“Ummm…last time I looked, the Yankees have to share their market with the Mets.”
the mets reported $268M in revenue last year; the yankees reported $441M
obviously there are bad and better ways to run a business. also obvious is that other teams could operate exactly as efficiently as the yankees do and still be at a steep disadvantage in terms of total revenue and thus total spending power. did i just blow your mind
“You might not remember this (or be too young too remember, idk) but 20 years ago the Yankees had neither the highest income nor the highest payroll in baseball.”
this make anyone else hungry for some facts? 20 years ago we had just finished the 1990 season. in 1990, the following were the MLB teams with the highest revenues and highest overall franchise value
TEAM – VALUE – REVENUE
NYY – 225M – 98M
NYM – 200M – 81M
LAD – 200M – 64.4M
here’s 1991
NYY – 200M – 90M
LAD – 180M – 79M
NYM – 170M – 91M
here’s 1992
NYY – 160M – 94.6M
TOR – 155M – 87.7M
NYM – 145M – 86.9M
(i’ll save you the suspense: the yankees have never not been at the top of the list since then)
so while your insight on the value of winning is welcome, it changes nothing about what was said in the comment you responded to: the yankees have far, far more revenue than any other team even while splitting the market with the mets. no malarkey here
The only thing that surprises me about this list is Toronto. Did not expect that.
You obviously couldn’t have been around in the early 90’s.
Nope.
Nope, the Rays fan was there. The Orioles fan was missing.